The Chess Mind

We’re all enjoying the World Championship in Mexico City, the newest iteration in a series going back to 1886. The game has come a long way since then. Nowadays, we have a champion who utilizes openings like the Slav and the Berlin Defense with the Black pieces, whereas in 1886, Johannes Zukertort, in his match with Wilhelm Steinitz, played openings like…the Slav and the Berlin Defense!

Of course, chess has developed by leaps and bounds the past 121 years, but there are commonalities and things we can still learn from the players of those days and their games. So this week, to supplement the gap left by the first rest day in Mexico City, we’ll look at the crucial sixth game of the Steinitz-Zukertort match. Steinitz won game 1, but then Zukertort won four games in a row to completely take over the momentum. (Draws? What draws? They only split the point five times in twenty games.) Steinitz desperately needed to stop the bleeding, and this game marked the start of a comeback that made him the first official world champion.

The game was a Berlin Defense, but before you all fall asleep, it was a very sharp line, one which sometimes causes trouble to even very strong contemporary players. So one benefit of tuning in is that you can add a very dangerous weapon to your opening arsenal! Second, it’s an excellent game from start to finish: interesting opening play, a well-played middlegame attack, and excellent endgame technique by Steinitz to finish it off. Third, there’s a curious feature of this game that could not have happened nowadays (or at least wouldn’t have). And fourth, I’ll be in Mexico City for about a week, so this will be your last chance for a while to see one of my shows!

Remember, although it’s on an unusual day (Monday night), it’s at the usual time: 9 p.m. ET, 3 a.m. CET. (But remember, European non-night owls, you can watch the shows in the archives starting almost immediately after they finish.) Directions for watching the show, either live (for free) or in the archives (very cheaply, but not quite free) can be found here.

Since the world championship starts tomorrow and the games might still be in progress by 9 pm ET, I'm going to postpone the show. I'm hoping to reschedule the next three shows for the world championship rest days, but am still waiting for approval from the big boss. More info as it comes available.

Last week we examined two encounters between Kramnik and Anand; this week we continue our preview of the participants in the upcoming world championship tournament in Mexico City, Mexico. Our star this time is the young and very much up and coming Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian.

While Alexander Grischuk is the youngest participant and has been a big name on the world stage since 2000, Aronian, one year Grischuk's senior, was comparatively unknown to the general chess public until late 2004/early 2005. Since then it's as if he was shot out of a cannon, blasting past almost everyone. He has won several super-GM events, reached as high as number three on the rating list (he's currently #8) and has even defeated Vladimir Kramnik in a rapid match.

Aronian has claimed to be a bit lazy when it comes to theoretical preparation, but if true he certainly makes up for it in his ability to improvise over the board. We will see this in our game tonight, Aronian-Anand from this year's Morelia/Linares tournament. Anand won the event, but Aronian won their mini-match with fine play in a queenless middlegame/endgame.

What can we get from our examination of this game? First, friends and foes of the Slav will get a glimpse into the important 4.Qc2 sideline - a nice way for White to avoid the mounds of theory devoted to 4.Nc3 dxc4/a6/e6 (there are literally 100 times more games with 4.Nc3 than 4.Qc2 in the databases, so this is a real time-saver).

Second, several important pawn-structure themes arise in the game: White accepts doubled, isolated h-pawns at one point, and it's interesting to reflect on whether or not this is a serious problem. On the other hand, White enjoys the more impressive pawn center, as he usually does in the Slav. Whether this is serious, and what he can do with it, will also be considered in our coverage.

Third: Aronian enjoyed the bishop pair in a situation where that can prove meaningful, and so we'll spend some time discussing that feature of the game as well. That the bishop pair can be used aggressively is well-known, but they also performed useful prophylactic and defensive work, too.

Fourth and finally, there are some beautiful tactics and finesses, and of course we'll pay careful attention to them, too. Aronian's win constitutes an impressive strategic effort, but it's the tactical aspects that really put the shine on the game.

Remember to tune in for the show live, tonight (Thursday) at 9 p.m. ET (that's 3 a.m. Friday morning, CET, for you night owls); directions, as always, can be found here. Hope to see you there!